I imgaine I don't buy as much wood as some here and thought some input wood be interesting. I've bought most of my English from Presliks and Turkish from Hunterbid, only a few sticks from Hbid. I've been happy with both, real happy with Preslik with wood in the $250-$500 range. There are lot of other wood dealers out there and I thought others experiences might open up a few options I haven't explored.

Considering that the basic minimum that it will cost to have a gunstock made, inletted and finished is roughly $2500 to $3000 MINIMUM, I think that saving a few hundred dollars on the blank is being penny-wise and pound foolish. In general there is a world of difference between a $500 blank and a $1000 bland (AT THE SAME SELLER) and saving even a $1000 bucks at this point MAY or may not, depending on what you want and how lucky you are, be a good decision related to how the finished rifle looks.

I dunno, at one time I thought more figure was better. These day's I don't.

Terry

I believe that you need to strike a balance. That is why I like Forrest B's rifles. No feature on his rifles overpower the other. I believe that you want a person to admire the whole package and not just look at marvelous metal work and not even see all the work that went into the wood or in reverse.
Butch

Wood is subjective. What one dealer calls a stick as a $800 blank another will call it a $300 blank. I have little interest in high dollar blanks if it's purely for figure. I don't like highly figured blanks anyway. I've just found a rather drastic interpretation of what some dealers price their wood at. I'm looking at it from that perspective, looking for those that don't feel their wood contains hidden gold nuggets and priced accordingly Like I said I'm perfectly happy with Presliks and hunterbid, just thought I'd kick it around.

That's why it pays to shop around " YOUR in control " as you are the purchaser .

The Blank you chose should make you feel GOOD ! As Butch says Balance being the Key .

A fine English Dbl. looks Horrid with a Maple stock or unacceptable with straight grained

plane Jane walnut . I for one consider it silly foolish to purchase a $1K blank for a

Remington 700 , it's still a Remington no matter what clowns clothes your choosing to dress it in !.

Just Another Man's Opinion !.

I think it all depends on what you envision the rifle becoming.

If this is going to be a finest grade rifle, then you will probably be better off shopping for the blank (yourself) at one of the major walnut blank suppliers.

I've picked up some very nice wood off Ebay for not very much money ($100 to $150) that has turned into nice stocks. I have to admit that some of that is luck too.

It costs me about $250 to have a blank turned and inletted.

I have a local hobbyist stockmaker who will get the inletted blank and barreled action back to me (finished with decent checkering) for about $500.

It would hard to be able to do that on tight schedule though...in otherwords these are projects I don't care when I get them back.

Still, they look great, and I enjoy scanning the wood on Ebay looking for a bargin.
I have several nice blanks sitting in the garage slowly drying.
It makes for a fun hobby.

Garrett

The question was not what kind of wood to buy, but rather where to get the best wood for the money. I personally don't have enough extra money so that I can afford to waste one penney more than necessary, so I can identify.

For a nice selection of Black and Claro, I've had good luck with my old stockmaking instructor, Ed Shulin of Trinidad, CO. He also will turn and semi-inlet your blank on his Dakota pantograph for a very reasonable price but he doesn't handle English walnut at all. BTW he handles almost all the wood for the students at Trinidad and CO School of Trades, among others. Cecil Fredi of Las Vegas, NV has a great selection of English at good prices but some of his wood seems to be laid out & cut just a little bit off. These are 2 that I can recommend, some of the others are OK too but I won't give any more opinions.
Regards, Joe

quote:

The question was not what kind of wood to buy, but rather where to get the best wood for the money. I personally don't have enough extra money so that I can afford to waste one penney more than necessary, so I can identify.

Thanks, J.D. that was my question exactly.

I make my own stocks, the best bang for the buck on the wood helps me get the metal work paid for which I don't do. I do it because I enjoy it, I'm not looking for wood for that masterpiece I'll commision somebody else to do. It's a hobby and I really like it, mostly the challenge of getting better with each one. One day I'll have to head South and visit some wood dealers myself. It must be a whole lot of fun being surrounded by stacks of nice walnut picking thru untill the one pops up to buy.

In my experience, Preslik is the most bang for the buck.

By far.

Still, I've heard rumors of green blanks.

flaco

I have purchased three blanks from WATTS WALNUT

Two have been used in the making of a couple of custom 404 Jeffery rifles. The stocks a beautiful! The price was right.

I have had excellent success over the past eight years or so with Murat Ergin at Hunterbid and before. The flood of good pictures is a big help in picking the ones that really turn my crank, regardless of figure. His prices seem to be among the best as well. I live in a culturally void part of the country (near Cincinnati) and it’s impossible for me to get a look at good wood before buying it. Out of fifty say, 500 dollar blanks, only one or two actually gets my goat. Good pictures help to decide. I have only returned two blanks to Murat out of over twenty. I have also had excellent success with green blanks on e-bay from an outfit called AntlersExpress. All black walnut but some were of excellent quality and they came cheap. I picked up two from the Dressels and paid about what they were worth. Hope this helps.

A further caveat: IMO, if you're dealing with an outfit that specializes in high-grade items for double guns such as folks like Galazan's for instance, then prepare to pay more, usually lots more. The concept of Conspicuous Consumption is alive and well and flourishing in our present society that seems to worship expensive & flashy things like Rolex watches.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Galazan's or Rolex watches, they are both possibly some of the best brands out there, it's just that their products, IMO, are priced entirely too high for any practical use. I've owned & worn Rolexes and gotten much better service from my Omega, and for that matter from my Waltham. Ditto the wood I've seen from Galazan's and others that sell the high-priced items, in my experience you can get just as good and often better figure from Cecil Fredi at a much lower price. But, like the Madam said to the Bishop, "You pays your money and you takes your choice!"

The extra $500-$1000 I don't unnecessarily spend for the braggin' rights of the name of the wood vendor is money I can spend on finer sights and accessories or a better scope or more engraving. Or more ammo and more practice, which is always A Good Thing. Braggin' rights are also always good, but I'd much rather brag about the workmanship instead of how much money I wasted.

Sorry, end of rant.
Regards, Joe

Good wood is where you find it. I've bought from high end dealers that had a gem in the bargin bin and I've bought from places like Goby's walnut that aren't known for high end stuff and got some really nice blanks. Years ago I heard about a big sale on blanks at Dakota rifles. I called them and bought two blanks sight unseen for $40 apiece. When the wood arived I decided it wasn't what I wanted and listed them on ebay. One drew $350 and the other went for $425. There must have been something to them as they both began at $40 apiece!

If you are looking for a great deal on Turkish call Adam over at Luxus walnut. Tell him what you want to spend and what you're looking for. He has a warehouse full of blanks and will find you a gem. He also has what he calls "seconds" that are a super bargain. If they don't work he'll send you another one. I bought one of those from him and it worked out great! The only problem was it had too much figure. I stained it and toned it down a little though.

The only ones I avoid are the ones I hear repeated problems with like Old World Walnut.

Terry

I've heard the same of Old World Walnut. Too bad I could actually walk in and pick out a blank, he's just North of me. I'm not sure if Ernie Paulson, might be mis-spelled, still is in business. He's in Chinook Mt I believe. I might track him down next time I'm in the area.

it has been probaly ten years now since i last spoke with ernie. he told me then that he was going out of the wood selling business, said he was going to keep going at the stock making business. haven't seen him advertised in a long time. he used to give you real nice wood for the money.

quote:

TC1: at one time I thought more figure was better. These day's I don't.

Me too.

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
I have purchased three blanks from WATTS WALNUT

Two have been used in the making of a couple of custom 404 Jeffery rifles. The stocks a beautiful! The price was right.

When you post pictures, try to be sure the negatives are right side up, it looks like you posted left handed rifles......say it ain't so.

There are Two rifles.

Both 404 Jeffery were built by Tip Burns. The left handed rifle was a surprise gift for my friend David Guitar of Brownwood Texas. He shoots Left handed!

Just my 2 cents, but I don't think it matters what gun you put a nice chunk of wood on; I have a $1,000 piece of English Walnut on a cheapo Marlin '94 .45 Colt Cowboy. But I like levers and it looks great. Everyone has their tastes. I know you can't make a silk purse from a sows ear, but you can sure make the sow a little more enticing. Hard to beat Presliks prices for what you get. Cheers.

I've bought a dozen blanks from Wright in Oregon and picked through Cecil's bins.

Wrights english are usually wet so ask first.

Rich

Hey Dempsey, You still out there? I have a somewhat humorous story(at least to me) for you Termite Food Fans.

Had a relative, Kerry, stop by over Christmas. Hadn't seen him in at least a decade and we had a lot to catch up on. One thing in particular was that his now married daughter had wanted a couple of horses of her own. Had to have them, but no place to keep them.

So, he began formulating a plan to add an additional stable. Spread the word he was looking for any old Barns or Stables that folks might want removed from their property. As luck would have it, he eventually found one.

Took it down, salvaged all the lumber and built a new stable. He had brought some flicks and it really was impressive. Had a Green metal roof and he had painted the wood a light Yellow. Not what I'd choose, but that is what he had.

So he is in the process of showing me the flicks of the Horses and the Stable and asks, "What kinda wood do you think that is?"

I went through a pretty good list starting with Black Locust, Maple, Oak, Pecan, Sycamore, Cedar and knew it couldn't be Pine in KY. He knew he had me because it is solid Black Walnut cut from those other folks property (maybe) by their Great-Great-Grandfather. It had been around for a very long time and they saw no real value to it besides being a barn or stable, which it is once again.

Happy Termite Food hunting to you folks.